Chronic Fatigue as a syndrome has been widely studied but remains a mystery to most. My very first client as a master’s level intern in the late 80s had been given that diagnosis. The person looked well but described intense fatigue and pain. It was tempting to see the person as only having psychological problems (i.e., depression) or making excuses for not being able to get up in the morning. It was also tempting to want to think that I understood the level of pain and suffering because I too sometimes have pain and fatigue.
If you haven’t suffered from this, you likely have friends and/or family who have. Given the changing symptoms that rarely follow traditional syndromes, sufferers also suffer from the comments and advice of well-meaning friends–even medical professionals (they tend to not respond well to amorphous pain and tiredess complaints when no “footprint” can be found in the body).
I found the following personal reflections from author and speaker Dr. John Armstrong of Act 3 helpful in that he details his personal story, the impact of such well-meaning advice, and yet explores some of the possible psychological causes (causes are always complex and almost never singular given environmental exposure, genetic and biological factors, psychological factors and cognitive factors and God’s providential hand). Here’s the linkto his article. Or you can go to the homepage above and listen to the podcast.
Musings on Faith and Psychology 